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SLADER: Hypermedia Presentation on Drugs andAlcohol Use

Tomasz Mldner, Christine van Veen Jodrey School of Computer Science, Acadia University

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B0P 1X0, Canada

Peggy Duncan The Crosbie Centre Association, Miller Hospital

150 Exhitibion St., Kentville, Nova Scotia, B4N 5E3, Canada

email: tomasz.muldner.acadiau.ca tel. (902) 542-2201 ext. 1578. Fax: (902) 542-4699.

Abstract

SLADER, Student Life Alcohol and Drug Education Resource , is an interactive, computer

presentation produced with NEAT. It uses hypermedia to provide, as well as collect, information aboutdrugs and alcohol use. While viewing SLADER, the reader can electronically highlight text, writemargin notes and add hypertext windows and links. The current version of SLADER is directed towardsyoung adults. However, future versions will also interest other age groups.

1 Introduction

SLADER was produced as an efficient and innovative tool for providing university students withinformation about drug use and abuse. SLADER can also be used by those students who prefer to "talk" tothe computer, rather than a human being. A computer program is completely confidential, and so the usercan be honest when providing information about his or her problems.

SLADER takes advantage of hypertext technology, providing two learning schemes. In one scheme,the user can read the material in a linear fashion, that is page by page. At the same time, the user maychoose to read the material in a non-linear fashion, by clicking mouse-sensitive areas of the screen, knownas hypertext links. The latter technique has been proven to increase the efficiency of learning [ALE91,MAU90, MER89]. SLADER provides unique support for hypertext by allowing the learner to modify theexisting hypertext links, as well as create new ones. SLADER also uses multimedia techniques to enhancethe quality of the presentation. Graphics and animation are often used to present concepts. Also, sound isused to simplify some parts of the presentation. Finally, there is an optional par t, showing a video on drugabuse.

SLADER was created using NEAT (see Section 2). In order to use SLADER, the user needs acomputer with at least an 80386 central processor running Windows. In order to use multimediaextensions, some multimedia hardware is required.

2 Hypermedia Tools

NEAT, which stands for iNtegrated Environment for Authoring in ToolBook, provides templatesand various facilities for rapid prototyping of computer-based presentations. NEAT was originallydesigned in the summer of 1992 by Tomasz Mldner from Acadia University, Canada, and Stefan Mayerand Claus Unger from Hagen University, Germany, see [MAY89]. Version 1.0 of NEAT wasimplemented by T. Mldner in the fall of 1992, and Version 1.1 was implemented by the same author in

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Contents of the Presentation

SLADER uses NEAT to discuss several topics in relation to drugs and alcohol abuse. The chaptersincluded in this presentation are:

What is a Drug? Stress Management Types of Drugs Drugs and Pregnancy Drugs and the Law Finding Help

3.1 What is a Drug?

SLADER defines what a drug is, how drugs interact with the human body, the effectiveness of drugs, drug abuse, reasons why people use drugs and other important terms. Questions are interleaved

with the tutorial pages of this chapter to help the reader determine if he or she is ready for the followingchapters of the presentation.

SLADER defines a drug as any substance whichcan change the normal function of our body or mind. Ananimation of spinning cog wheels, sparking and changingcolour as the drug enters the body (see Figure 3.1.1), isused in SLADER to illustrate the actions of a drug in thebody. Our presentation is restricted to the discussion of "psychoactive" drugs, which change the way a personthinks, feels or acts, by altering the normal functions of various processes in the body and mind.

SLADER also explains the process which drugstake through the human body. This process includes absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.That is, the drug is absorbed by the body by one of several methods of administration. Note that byclicking "methods of administration" (see Figure 3.1.2), the user can receive more specific information(see Figure 3.1.3) about each method of administration. After absorption, the drug is distributedthroughout the body. An animation is used to show one method of distribution, as blood travelsthroughout the body (see Figure 3.1.4 below). Psychoactive drugs most seriously affect the human brain.Another animation is used to show the action of neuro-transmitters within the brain (see Figure 3.1.5below). Note the window which appears when the word "neuro-transmitters" is clicked in Figure 3.1.5.Many such windows appear throughout SLADER, providing definitions and additional information forthe user. Eventually, the drug is distributed to the liver, where a process known as metabolism purifiesthe substance. Finally, the drug is excreted from the body, mainly by the kidneys.

Figure 3.1.1 Definition of a Drug

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Figure 3.1.2 Absorption Figure 3.1.3 Methods of Administration

Figure 3.1.4 Distribution Figure 3.1.5 The Brain

SLADER describes many factors which determine the effectiveness of a drug. The chosen methodof administration, dosage, frequency of use, length of time taken for the drug to reach the proper bodyorgans and the environmental setting all determine the effectiveness of the drug. Also, the drug's actionsdepend on the drug user's age, size, gender, emotional state and beliefs.

Drug abuse is defined in SLADER as any use of adrug, as well as any substance used like a drug, that causesa problem or was not intended for the drug, apart fromsome undesirable, but unavoidable, side effects of certainmedically used drugs. Also, SLADER describes manyrisks of drug abuse, including physical, psychological,social, economical, legal, family, work and schoolproblems (see Figure 3.1.6).

Figure 3.1.6 Risks of Drug Abuse

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3.3 Types of Drugs

Figure 3.3.1 Uppers Figure 3.3.2 Downers Figure 3.3.3 All-Arounders

This chapter of SLADER deals with the three main types of drugs: uppers, downers and all-arounders. Uppers are drugs which intensify or speed up activity within the Central Nervous System,CNS, causing body systems to work harder than normal (see Figure 3.3.1 above). Downers are drugswhich slow down activity within the CNS, causing body systems to relax and resulting in slower reflexes(see Figure 3.3.2 above). All-arounders are drugs which alter the mind, often known as "psychedelic"drugs, causing disturbed brain functioning (see Figure 3.3.3 above). All drugs are shown to result innegative effects.

Uppers include one category of drugs: stimulants. Stimulants are mainly used to keep the userawake, increase alertness and endurance, produce a feeling of well-being known as euphoria and decreaseappetite. SLADER discusses four examples of stimulants: tobacco, caffeine, amphetamines and cocaine.

Downers include three categories of drugs: opiates or narcotic analgesics, sedative-hypnotics andtranquillizers. Opiates are highly addictive pain killers, may produce euphoria, can be either natural orsynthetic in nature, are often medically useful under proper supervision and are under the strictest legalcontrol of all drugs. SLADER discusses the following opiates: opium, morphine, codeine and heroin.Sedative-hypnotics produce a feeling of calm, drowsiness and euphoria at low dosage levels, as well as canresult in severe intoxication, unconsciousness, severe dependence and even death. SLADER concentrateson the following sedative-hypnotics: barbiturates, inhalants and alcohol. Tranquillizers are the mostprescribed type of drugs for anxiety, nervousness, insomnia and as muscle relaxants. Tranquillizers, alsoknown as the "minor tranquillizers", result in a milder calming effect than sedative-hypnotics. SLADER

specifically concentrates on the benzodiazepine family of tranquillizers.All-arounders consist of two categories of drugs: hallucinogens and cannabis. Hallucinogens candramatically affect perception, emotions, mental processes and the senses, causing hallucinations.Hallucinations are imaginations of changes in the senses, similar to dreams or night-mares and involvingone or more of the five senses. For example, a common hallucination experienced while using cocaine is"formication", the imagined feeling by the drug user of bugs crawling under his or her skin.Hallucinogens have no medically accepted use. SLADER discusses the following hallucinogens: LSD,PCP, psilocybin, MDA and mescaline/peyote. Cannabis is a unique drug, often classed as both ahallucinogen and a sedative-hypnotic. The section of SLADER about cannabis is meant to dispel anybelief that marijuana is a safe drug.

3.4 Drugs and Pregnancy

The use of drugs during pregnancy is a very pertinent topic today. Every drug discovered has beenshown to cross the placenta during pregnancy. This may result in serious birth defects to the fetus, as wellas other serious complications during birth. Therefore, due to the importance of this topic, SLADERincludes an entire chapter about each of the drugs in the previous chapter (Types of Drugs) and their useduring pregnancy.

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3.5 Drugs and the Law

Each category of drugs has its own relation with the law under the Food and Drugs Act of Canadaand the Narcotic Control Act. For this reason, SLADER includes a chapter describing each drug from the"Types of Drugs" chapter, with relation to the law, including penalties, fees and jail sentences, as well ascourt procedures and other information relevant to possession, use and distribution of illegal drugs.

3.6 Finding Help

If a person utilizing the program is having problems with any kind of drug, he or she will hope tofind help within this presentation. Therefore, the final chapter of SLADER includes all availableinformation on places and procedures for helping a drug abuser or co-abuser. A co-abuser is a person whois affected in some way by a drug abuser, either physically, psychologically or emotionally.

4 Conclusion

Our initial experience with SLADER, while rather limited, is very encouraging. A group of thirtyuniversity students were asked to use the questionnaires of SLADER and provide their opinions about theproject. In general, the students would have preferred more questions on each topic. Also, most studentsliked the environment of SLADER. Some data was also collected from this small group. For example,40-50% get drunk even when they intended not to, have friends who are "heavy" drinkers, have tried toexcuse some behaviour because they were drunk and have either missed classes or work, or given less thanacceptable performance because of drinking. 27% of the students have experienced "blackouts", that is aperiod of time when they could not recall anything that happened, while drinking. None of these studentshave ever switched from one drink to another, hoping this would help them "cut down" or keep fromgetting drunk. 63% of the students thought incorrectly that marijuana is a narcotic. 33% of the studentsthought that marijuana in 1993 has the same potency as it did in 1969, while marijuana is actually muchmore potent today. Finally, the average stress level of these students was 52%, placing them in arelatively safe category with regards to heart problems.

SLADER will most likely begin its "regular" use on the Acadia University campus in Wolfville,Nova Scotia, Canada, as well as within the regional alcohol and drug addiction services known as CrosbieCentre in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Initially, these places will provide access to university or collegestudents only. This will allow us to test more thoroughly the credibility and usefulness of our project.Eventually, we would like to continue this project to include information for all age groups, includingyoung children, junior high school students, adults and the elderly.

Bibliography

[ALE91] Alessi, S. and Trollip S. Computer-Based Instruction . Second Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1991.[CAR89] Carroll, Charles R. Drugs in Modern Society (second edition). Iowa, USA: Wm. C. Brown

Publishers, 1989.[MAU90] Maurer, H., Tomek, I. Hyper-G - A Survey . Report 284, IIG, Graz University of

Technology, 1990.[MER89] Merill, D., Li, Z. and Jones M. Limitations of First Generation Instructional Design .

Educational Technology, Jan. 1990.[MIN90] Straight Facts About Drugs & Drug Abuse. Really me: Action On Drug Abuse . Published by

authority of the Minister of National Health and Welfare. Minister of Supply and Services,Canada, 1990

[MAY93] Mayer, S., Mldner, T. and Unger, C. NEAT: An Integrated Authoring Environment based upon ToolBook . EDMEDIA'93, Orlando, Florida, June 1993.

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[MUL93a] Mldner, T. NEATWARE Reference Manual . Technical Report, Jodrey School of ComputerScience, Acadia University, September 1993.

[MUL93b] Mldner, T. NEAT Reference Manual . Technical Report, Jodrey School of Computer Science,Acadia University, September 1993.

[TOO91] Using ToolBook . Asymetrix Corporation, 1991.